Compressor stations not good neighbors

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This is a warning to any homeowners who live anywhere near a proposed site for a compressor station: Do not let them build it. They do not make good neighbors.

Our home is only 6 years old, and unfortunately two compressor stations have been built near our home in what used to be a quiet rural farming and residential area. The everyday noise is hard enough to deal with, let alone the scary and very loud noises when it has a malfunction or decompresses and shuts down. You hear alarms going off multiple times and at all hours of the day and night. It is so loud that residents in nearby Jefferson hear the compressor station noises. It is the loudest on our front porch, where we used to enjoy morning coffee or relax in the evening. We no longer sit out there because of the noise. You can hear the everyday noise inside the house in all the front rooms. We can’t even sell the house and leave. Who would want to purchase a house in the country that doesn’t offer a quiet and serene setting?

They take over your whole area during the building process and our roads are ruined from the extremely large trucks that travel recklessly on our small country roads.

My issues are not with the entire gas industry and property owners that have profited by it. But there is no protection for homeowners nearby who have to suffer and are not given options. There is no reason that this billion-dollar industry should not have regulations to give options to homeowners who don’t want to live near these compressor stations. We lived here with no noise before the stations were built and now we are told that the noise we live with is within acceptable limits. Who gets to decide what noise level is acceptable and would they accept it if it were in their neighborhood?

The compressor stations generate odors that we can’t identify and we worry about the health risks associated with pollution and air quality. We have all experienced headaches and coughs. The noise has caused problems for my daughter. I do not know what the outcome in our fight will be, but I wanted to inform homeowners out there the price you pay when compressor stations become your neighbors. Isn’t it time that our local, state and federal officials look out for taxpayers and homeowners?